Scanless virtual retinal display system

ABSTRACT

A scanless display system that projects an image directly onto a retina, comprising a plurality of organic laser cavity devices. The organic laser cavity devices are placed in close proximity to a user&#39;s eye, for variably changing individual image pixels; wherein projecting the image directly onto the retina occurs by variably addressing individual image pixel locations and variably changing duration of illumination on individual image pixels upon the retina. Also included are a receiver for receiving transmitted electrical signals that include content information; a decoder for decoding received electrical signals; and a modulator for driving the scanless display under predetermined parameters.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates generally to the field of photonic emitter arrays.Specifically, the invention applies a novel refresh system to the areaof display systems, and in particular to VRD (Virtual Retinal Display)systems. Additionally, the invention defines a display system that usesindividually addressable lasers in an array, those lasers havingfeatures typical of VCSELs (Vertical Cavity Surface Lasers) as well asmicro-lenses, sensors and other components appropriate to interactivegraphics displays.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There has been a constant effort to use technology to substitute imagesfor reality. Since the Renaissance inventions of perspective and trompel'oeil to the present day's “virtual reality,” there has been a constanteffort to find ways to convince the viewer that an image of an object isthe object itself.

Great strides were made by Dr. Thomas Furness inventor of the headmounted display (HMD). The HMD, although cumbersome, was a breakthroughin that it harnessed the ability of the computer to generate images onthe basis of gestures and actions and allowed a fabricated image toautomatically change in response to physical actions of the viewer inmanner that mimicked the way the real world responds to such actions.Furness thus demonstrated the importance of interaction and feedback inenhancing the communication experience.

The HMD has a number of limitations, most prominent of which is themanner in which the viewer's head in blindly encased within a helmet.Another shortcoming is the weight (and subsequent fatigue andintrusiveness) of the display system. Removal of the helmet and wearingthe display as glasses exchanges the intrusion of the helmet forintrusiveness of the real world upon viewer—still reducing theeffectiveness of the illusion of being immersed in the displayed world.This exchanged of one form of intrusion for another only slightlyreduces the degree to which a viewer rendered effectively blind to thereal world.

In all cases of virtual reality displays (with exception of those thatcreate a virtual exit pupil), since a display in located in closeproximity to the eye, the viewer suffers problems resulting from thedissociation of eye vergance (where objects seem some distance from theobserver) from accommodation (where the eye is forced to stretch themacula to focus on a screen in close proximity in order to focus theimage onto the retina.)

To address the limitations of the head-mounded display, Dr. Furnessfurther created the virtual retinal display (VRD) described in a seriesof patents ranging from WO 94/09472A1 to the present day U.S. Pat. No.6,639,570B2. Others with patents in this area include Intel CorporationU.S. Pat. No. 6,474,816B2, the Entertainment Design Workshop LLC U.S.Pat. No. 6,454,411 B1, and companies inventing applications to placeatop the VRD such as Virtual-Eye.com's vision testing U.S. Pat. No.6,386,706B1 or into specific devices such as Swisscom Mobile AG EP1198957B1 for mobile devices and Be Intellectual Property Inc.'sincorporation into aviation masks. The virtual retinal display system isa system displayed in a manner bypassing the eye's lenses, and insteadprojected an image onto the retina artificially designed to be like onefocused by the eye onto the retina. This display addressed the problemof disjunction of vergance and accommodation in traditional displays.This created new problems and challenges in the form of finding a meansof scanning extremely small images onto the retina (essentially treatingthe retina like a micro-cathode of a television and substituting a laserfor electron beam). The research and concepts of Furness and othersassociated with the University of Washington stimulated work on thescanning problem by the Microvision Company on miniature scanningsystems such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,140,979A which is further covered inpatents up to the present day.

Individuals have been successful in finding a number of means forimproving the speed and flexibility of scans, most common is thattypical of color television displays where three separate scanning beamsare used to generate a single, colored image. In patent application U.S.2001/0022566 A1 (Yoji Okazaki) describes the use of three separatelasers to produce the three different wavelengths for a color display. Amethod taught by IBM patent GB 2 297 422 A (John Beeteson and AndrewRamsay Knox) is a form of pixel astigmatism, where pixels to allow to beof nonuniform size to facilitate painting a larger area in a givenamount of time. Another recently issued patent U.S. Pat. No. 6,628,446B1 (Arie Shahar and Nira Schwartz)—typical of a class ofsolutions—teaches using multiple beams and lenses rotating at standardspeed or double speed. A patent U.S. Pat. No. 6,184,969 B1 (James L.Fergason) teaches using active and passive dithering to enhance thedisplay, getting around the limitations of the scan by providingadditional pixel enhancement as appropriate. Another method is taught byGB 2 284 902 A (Paul May, Michael Geraint Robinson, Craig Tombling,Edward Peter Raynes) where multiple electro-optical liquid crystaldisplay devices are integrated to allow additional flexibility in imagepixel addressability.

All the display solutions continue to be limited by the concept ofcreating images by scanning, that is by changing the elements of theimage in a spatially and temporally sequential manner. More to thepoint, the real world requires a standard fixing the spatial location ofa image pixels of particular size and to be refreshed at fixed times andfor fixed duration and display shave sought to ameliorate the obviousconstraints of scan display systems while maintaining some continuitywith existing standards.

PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED BY THE INVENTION

A first problem with any dynamic display, but especially virtual retinaldisplays, is that scanning (such as scanning a beam across the retina)innately results in the creation of gaps in time-time gaps that bynecessity interfere with the illusion of reality when such is the goalof the display system.

A time gap occurs in the sequence of images I(n) between the beginningof creation of an image I(n=n₁) and end of creation of the previousimage I(n=n₁). For example, causes of this sort of time interval gap arethe spaces between the negatives in movie film.

In this case, all the pixels of the image are simultaneously updated (byhaving the projector light up the film), but the time between updates(approximately 1/50^(th) of second with a 180° shutter per 24 frames persecond for traditional film) is large relative to the refresh rate ofthe human visual systems where micro and minisaccades (which aregenerally associated with the twitch muscles of the oculomotor muscles)occur at frequencies between 40 and 150 Hz (cycles per second)—with theblanking interval a fraction of that response time. For a sense of thetime granularity of the visual system, in the paper “The Attenuation ofPerceived Image Smear During Saccades” (Vision Research 41, 521-528,Bedell, H. E. & Yang, J. (2001)), a flashed light spot during eyemovements is used to leave a light trajectory on the retina. The longerthe light-on time, the longer the trajectory is. The perceived length ofthe trajectory is called image smear. Results showed that the imagesmear increases as the light-on time increases when the light-on time isaround 20 msec or less (although suppressed after this point and thenincreasing again after the 40 msec point).

In electronic display systems, another cause of a time-gap is theblanking (the turning off of the electron beam that is used in the caseof an electronic display to activate the phosphor on a screen toluminance) interval inherent in creating images for an electronicdisplay such as a television and computer displays from days when theelectronic blanking intervals just mentioned are required since havingthe gun on as it returns to the beginning point of its line (horizontalblanking) or image (vertical blanking) scanning sequence after renderingan image (called fields and frames in the art of television rasterdisplay) would cause an objectionable lines to appear through the image.Current technologies now continue the tradition because of a perceivedneed for backward compatibility and the use of this blanking intervalfor other functions (such as foreign language subtitling, text and otherinformation found useful for enhancing or customizing a broadcast).

Similarly, since the sequential scan of a television display is line byline, another cause of time gap occurs because every line of imagebegins on the same side, the beam is blanked during the horizontalretrace of the beam from the end of each line to the beginning of eachnew line. All this material is extremely well know to those familiarwith the art of electronic displays such as CRTs (cathode ray tubes).

An additional time-gap drawback of current electronic scan systems (suchas television) occurs during capture. This time gap translates into aproblem at display. Because action often continues while a point bypoint scan of an image proceeds (as a beam queries a capture plate onecapture pixel at a time), when action at high rates of change (relativeto the scanning beam) occurs, blurring or smearing appears in thedisplay (the captured pixel associated with a single point on a movingobject appears in multiple locations in the captured image.) A displaythat refreshes at a much higher rate (in conjunction with a continuouscapture system) offers the option of having a display of the real worldwith much diminished motion blurring within certain perceptual limits.

The faster still images are captured and generated, the closer theresulting display conforms to widely held expectations of real life, upto the perceptual limits of the human visual systems' neurology; theselimits being the periods when the eye is moving between (micro-saccades)fixation points in the visual environment. These combined gaps are (inthe case of movies) short enough in duration to not produceobjectionable flicker. It is known in the art of display technology thatincreasing the rate at which images are shown while retaining aspecified level of resolution, produces an enhanced sensation of realismand immersion-50 hz television appears “more real” than projected film,and 60 hz video appears more real than 50 hz. The “Showscan” displaytechnology promoted by Douglas Turnbull U.S. Pat. No. 4,477,160 A(Douglas Trumbull) and the liquidated Showscan company was based on theappealing realism of the images produced by showing films at a 50 fps(frames per second) or more (along with the use of 70 mm and highcandlepower) rather than the current standard of 24 fps.

Even at high refresh rates (rates at which the still images are replacedby the beginning of the rendering of the next still image), interactionsbetween the neurology of seeing (with microsaccades of varying length)and the display scan of an electronic image (with its blanking intervalsof fixed duration and relative occurrence) can create unpleasantinteractions for viewers sensitive to high frequency visual transitions.

In addition, “Showscan” was not widely adopted because of the high costof capturing and storing film images at high rates of speed. At display,the cost of the display system was not rapidly recouped because of thelack of content that used the display system to its full capability. Inshort, the obstacle of displacing the incumbent slow scan systemstandard with a higher speed scan system proved too great.

If the perceptual quality problems of scan systems were the only ones,then a higher display frame rate (and solutions seeking to boost theoverall refresh rate or to boost the rate at which localized individualpixels are refreshed at different rate within a larger collection ofpixels) might be sufficient to sufficiently address the problem; howeverthere are technical problems when such systems are used for “virtualreality” and “augmented reality” and when imaging applications (such asindustrial applications using photonic sources to generate products)need to exceed neurological standards for speed of refresh

When creating an interactive “virtual world,” experience shows thatimages must respond to viewer actions in a manner similar to the wayobjects in the actual world respond, that is—creation of an illusion ofimmersion of a viewer in a virtual world requires an instant visualresponse. Virtual reality display systems using scanning displays havethe limitation that the cumulative time gaps resulting from multiplescanning systems (such as the scanning system for capturing the viewer'sinput and the scanning system for generating the appropriate output)creates “lag time.”

Lag time is a measure of the inability of a system to respond directlyto input with an appropriate output. One important element of lag timeis the display refresh rate-which limits response by the system toviewer input to the generation of the next image in the displaysequence. A perceptual by-product of lag between was is felt (a quicktwist of the head) and what is seen (a jumpy or blurred sequence ofimages) contributes to what is called “simulator-sickness” by thoseversed in the art of creating virtual environments.

A second and altogether different problem with both head-mounted andretinal displays is that they function by excluding the real world,requiring the actual real environment surrounding the viewer has to bereintroduced as content for the display.

Current products require the use of an additional imaging source (like avideo camera) and additional electronics (like video mixer circuits) toallow the combination of virtual objects with the actual visibleenvironment surrounding the viewer, or the substitution of views of thecurrent physical environment of the viewer for the virtual scenes. Thisadds to the cost, weight and complexity of the system. Problems ofhaving an additional scanning capture system are aggravated by the lagtime previously described. Having capture off-axis to the displayresults in other forms of disparity between what would be seen in anunimpeded and natural manner and what is presented by the display, theaddress of such disparities requiring additional technology andresulting in additional cost.

Current VRDs that use 2D arrays for display have challenges in placingthe display in a precise relationship with the viewer's eye. Patentssuch as U.S. Pat. No. 6,600,460 (Robert Mays, Jr.) and U.S. Pat. No.6,229,503 B1 (Robert Mays Jr. et al) for miniature projection displayscomposed of 2D arrays of miniature VCSELs or U.S. Pat. No. 5,883,606(Larry Starkes Smoot) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,160,667 (Larry Starkes Smoot)and U.S. Pat. No. 5,499,138 (Yoichi Iba) which use schemes for lightmodulation via planar arrangements of devices such as LCDs, microlensesand aperture arrays and application U.S. 2001/0028332 (Wouter Roest)which uses polarization and an arrangement of aspherical mirrors andlenses; still suffer from requiring additional steps to bring the lightrays from a planar display into proper alignment with eye and neglectmention of any means for the display to use anything other than standardimage drivers or formats to facilitate the requirements of the display.These shortcoming continue to require either placing the viewer in animmovable position relative to the display or the beam scanner or havingto deal with moving the scanning apparatus in response to head and eyemovement—and the resulting host of problems resulting from lag-timesintroduced by attempting to move the beam scanner so it stays inprecisely the correct relationship with the eye.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention addresses the aforementioned need by providing ascanless display system that projects an image directly onto a retina,comprising a plurality of organic laser cavity devices. The organiclaser cavity devices are placed in close proximity to a user's eye, forvariably changing individual image pixels; wherein projecting the imagedirectly onto the retina occurs by variably addressing individual imagepixel locations and variably changing duration of illumination onindividual image pixels upon the retina. Also included are a receiverfor receiving transmitted electrical signals that include contentinformation; a decoder for decoding received electrical signals; and amodulator for driving the scanless display under predeterminedparameters.

ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION

By creating a electronic display system that allows each image pixel ofthe display to be controlled (turned on and off) independently ofsurrounding pixels while also allowing any number of pixels (up to thenumber comprising the display) to be turned on or off simultaneously,the time gaps between complete updates of the image are likely to be ofshortened duration and of a duration that can be made of variablelength. Allowing the possibility of a refresh rate greater than andcongruent with the neurological and physiological refresh rates (such asthose due to visual fixation and micro-saccades, a significant decreasein lag times can be achieved, hence this patent suggests this method ofgenerating the display—using the “independently addressable” in spaceand time method (as opposed to a scan-based, sequentially constrainedstandard).

Reduction and elimination of lag is a feature especially prized byvirtual reality and augmented reality systems designers and is useful toall interactive photonic emitter systems. Lag is a form of inaccuracythat at best causes an uncomfortable violation of reality for the viewer(as either gaps appear in what would normally be continuous motion or asperceptible synchronization problems between a viewer action and theresult) and at worst a physical liability (if the system is being usedto physically effect living cells).

The device has greater flexibility of response to change in the content,the viewer, viewer input or the viewing environment since the displayresponse can be greater than that of current displays and range fromchanging the entire image in parallel to independently modifying onlythe smallest, individual image pixel and a rate far less limited thancurrent scanning displays. This scalable response allows the display totaker fuller advantage of data compression schemes thus being efficientin making use of the benefits of “change based” data compression schemesby matching them with a change based display scheme.

Variable speeds can be used during viewing giving the display designerand the viewer (allowing user selectable variable display refresh rates)and other yet unspecified new options in viewing image content.

Being able to alter the image pixels (the smallest units) of the imageon a non-sequential basis allows for the possibility that the displaymay be automatically altered during the varying periods of saccadicsuppression thus eliminating perception of non-content screenalteration.

By modulating the lasers individually, the problem of synchronizationwith the scanning standards of other devices is eliminated because anyscanning system may be emulated. The display device can be driven by anyimage source for which a translator is created (that is adecoder/encoder to convert from the content's scan based standard to the“independently addressable” standard.) This makes the display capable ofshowing content in all current (and often incompatible) scanningformats.

For an emissive source of the photons that will render the image pixelsvisible to the eye, currently organic vertical cavity surface emittinglasers (also herein referred to as organic VCSELs or organic lasercavity devices and used interchangeably) are small and capable of beingexcited (“pumped”) by low levels of incoherent, excitatory light makingthem advantaged for a small and light display. Organic VCSELs gain thisadvantage in low excitability in part by being composed of a sandwich ofmaterials that enable emission in a region of the spectrum (for examplered/640 nm) well separated from the pump wavelength (for exampleblue/400-420 nm). Other aspects of Organic VCSELS are described in U.S.Pat. No. 6,658,037(B2). Inorganic VCSELs may follow in the future.

Another advantage is that organic VCSELs can be easily fabricated intoarrays of individually-addressable elements. In such arrays, eachelement would be incoherent with neighboring elements and pumped by aseparate pump source (e.g. LED or group of LEDs). The elements in thearray can also comprise multiple host-donor combinations and/or multiplecavity designs such that a number of wavelengths can be produced by asingle array.

In addition, organic VCSELs can be fabricated to provide into arrays offixed illumination LED pumps. Such a configuration would function byhaving the output of individual lasers modulated by either controllingthe lasing function of the cavities or my controlling the outputfollowing lasing.

VCSELs may be fabricated to be of small size, allowing dense packingsufficient for an acceptable resolution display and allowing thecreation of a virtual retinal display that is small andlightweight—important features in attaining the desirable goal ofplacing the display in close proximity to the eye and yet not be tiringwhile worn for prolonged periods. Such a display close to the eyepossesses and advantage in that it will appear to be as immersive(appear wherever the user looks and have a wide field of view “viewingangle”) as a comparable display at a greater distance but will be farsmaller and will be far less costly to manufacture and require far lesspower and be innately far more mobile.

In addition to allowing a display to have the just noted desirablefeatures, although the system may use any display technology (includingdisplay technologies using direct electrical excitation to causephotonic emission) by using organic VCSELs (or any laser technologyhaving the following features of organic VCSELs) the invention can useincoherent pump light sources of far lower intensity than that ofcurrent lasers to offer options that allow construction of a displaythat is safe for use in close proximity to the eye.

Organic VCSELs fabricated into arrays of individually-addressableelements are more likely to be readily fabricated to have the preferablespherical shape. The organic VCSEL design is likely to be readilyfabricated in nonplanar forms because the layers comprising the lasercavity are amorphous and not crystalline making deposition on nonplanarsurfaces more facile. Sphere segments are the preferred embodiment forthis display for the purpose of simplifying the task of tracking the eyeand display an image onto the eye where the geometric relation of theemitted beams to the eye is at all points the same

The present invention is further advantaged in implementing solutions tothe problem of current VRD systems, keeping the projection scanner in aprecise relationship with the retina while the eye (and thus retina) areconstantly moving and in using this movement to the advantage of thedisplay system. Unlike current devices, this device—by being able torespond to a change in relationship between the retina and the display'semission source by rapidly altering the choice of image pixel emissionsources—is not restricted to changing the image as a whole; the highrefresh rates and independent addressability make this displayadvantaged for implementing what is known in the art of displays as“foveated” imaging. By tracking eye movement, only those parts of thedisplay that are being looked at need be active, and only those parts ofthe image being looked at by the high resolution portion of the eye (thefovea) need be refreshed at the highest rate of which system is capable.

A display worn over the eyes creates a hazard by blinding the user tothe surrounding environment. Inversely, there may be times when having aclear and real-time view of surroundings is desirable but where actualdirect viewing could be dangerous (because of hazardous chemicalexposure or danger of blinding due to sudden and intense eruptions ofradiation).

An organic VCSEL retinal display could create the illusion oftransparency without the problems commonly associated with externallyworn cameras. Because organic VCSELs currently allow incoherent light toact as a pump light source (and inorganic VCSELs may do so in the nearfuture) and because they have a low pumping threshold, organic VCSELscan use incoherent light to assist generating a display, even to usingthe image information in the viewer environment in combination with theincoherent light in the scene to drive the individual laser/pixels ofthe display. By switching between using the qualities of light in theviewer's actual visual environment as modulation of the organic VCSELand having modulation information come from any other source (forexample through the use of micromechanical optical components andadditional pump light excitation capabilities); the display would beable to flexibly and dynamically combine the illusion of direct viewingof the world surrounding the viewer (that is, would be as thought thedisplay has somehow become all or in some parts, transparent) withdisplay of images of imaginary, virtual, remote in time or place orabstract images.

Organic VCSEL technology also has the advantage of relative ease ofalignment of pump source to output laser, important in rendering anaccurate image onto the retina.

The benefits of motion image compression for transmission and storageare obvious and have resulted in many standards and patents (a search onthe terms compression and encoding will yield over a 1000 patents in thelast ten years) covering the conversion of motion image information intoa compressed form. MPEG, Quicktime, CU-SeeMe, RealVideo, H.320/H.261,motion JPEG 2000 and JBIG are some widely known to those versed in theart of motion image compression. Some of the techniques (such as thoseused by JPEG 2000 and belonging to the broad class of “wavelet”compression schemes) use transform coefficients to compress imageinformation by quantizing the coefficients on the basis of histograminformation using a mathematical technique such as Huffman Encoding. Thecombination of broad wave information modified by a decoded “signal”that's modifies the broad wave information allows for the rebuilding ofthe original wave and for the compression and decompression to occur.

Compression by using what has changed in the image is not unique towavelet compression, and is a familiar tactic in a variety guises tothose versed in the art of using information encoding for the purpose ofimage compression and decompression (CODECs). Since this display isadvantaged by allowing each image pixel to be independently addressed,it's efficiency in being driven by the change data (as opposed torecreating a raster by converting the change information of individualimage pixels into elements in a sequentially scanned array) will likelycause it to be preferred over competing displays for all forms ofcompression motion imaging.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the presentinvention will become more apparent when taken in conjunction with thefollowing description and drawings wherein identical reference numeralshave been used, where possible, to designate identical features that arecommon to the figures, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of components for a retinal display systemthat projects light rays directly onto a retina without using a scanningsystem in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the function of the system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective drawing of a head-mounted hemispherical,scanless, retinal display system.

FIG. 4 illustrates tracing light rays from the display to the eye for aretinal display as used in the prior art.

FIG. 5 illustrates the inward (eye) facing portion of the hemisphere ofFIG. 3.

FIG. 6 a,b illustrate the outward (away from the eye) facing portion ofthe hemisphere of FIG. 3, showing lenslets and sensors intermixed withan array of VCSELs.

FIG. 7 is a schematic drawing of an ambient light pumped organic VCSELusing a lenslet.

FIG. 8 prior art—is a schematic drawing of a stacked array magnifier(SAM).

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a mechanism for pumping a laser with outputfrom a SAM.

FIG. 10 is a schematic drawing of a cross section of an OLED pumpedorganic VCSEL, such as those indicated in FIG. 6.

FIG. 11 is a schematic of a switchable source organic VCSEL (switchablebetween an OLED or ambient light source).

FIG. 12 a,b,c is a schematic of a tunable output organic VCSEL (tunablebetween to create different wavelengths).

FIG. 13 is a diagram of the construction of an embodiment of the organicVCSEL made in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a diagram of the construction of another embodiment of theorganic VCSEL of FIG. 13 with the substrate in an alternate position.

FIG. 15 is a diagram of the construction of an organic VCSEL with anactive region design.

FIG. 16 is a detailed diagram of a VCSEL array.

FIG. 17 is a diagram of a color VCSEL array.

FIGS. 18 a, b, c shows a sequence of actions to update memory locationsto create a simultaneously but individually addressed image pixeldisplay, abd.

FIGS. 19 a, b shows a mechanism to update memory locations to create asimultaneously but individually addressed display.

To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have beenused, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common tothe figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a virtual retinal display system that addressesthe preceding problems by using an array of lasers. Each laser in suchan array being addressable individually and in parallel (rather thansequentially) in time and location, thus creating a scanless virtualretinal display. The lasers in the array having qualities typical—andcurrently unique to—organic VCSEL devices, also herein referred to asorganic laser cavity devices and used interchangeably—each such laserrequiring extremely low levels of incoherent light as a pump source,easy formation into arrays of non-planar shape, and having both lowpower and small size which are appealing to display devices that will beused to scan onto the retina. Such a VCSEL is described in U.S. Pat. No.6,658,037 B2 (Keith B. Kahen et al.)

Referring to FIG. 1, the scanless retinal display system 110 is composedof subsystems typical and familiar to those versed in the art ofassembling immersive display systems; such systems typically comprisingsubsystems such as input subsystems 120, data reception subsystem 130,data processing subsystem 140 and storage subsystem 150, as well as datatransmission subsystem 160 devices and displays' subsystem 170. It isunderstood that when the patent refers to these subsystems in thesingular (transmission, processing, storage) that one or more physicaldevices may constitute the subsystem.

Note that for a stereoscopic display, the system is extended to twoseparate displays for the left and right eye receiving contentappropriate to the left or right eye.

Note also that for greater immersion, engaging the other senses withadditional devices (such as loudspeakers, earphones, tactile feedback,smell, temperature, motion etc.) is recommended and will not bementioned further.

Those devices requiring electricity to function (such as the computersused for data processing subsystem 140 and devices part of the storagesubsystem 150, transmission subsystem 160, data reception subsystem 130and sensors in an input subsystem 120 and—in most embodiments—thedisplays' subsystem 170 are assumed to use alternating or direct currentpower supplies that are commonly available for the purposes of poweringsuch devices. Power supplies and power delivery were therefore not to bementioned further except to note the low level of power required by thisinvention.

The sensors in the input subsystem 120 of the system may include devicessuch as but not restricted to photosensors (such as organic lightdiodes) in combination with microlens capture devices, mirrors andsimilar devices designed to enhance the capture and response to photonicemissions by generating an electrical current, cameras (such as videocameras) designed to respond to wavelengths such as but not restrictedto the visual spectrum, IR (infrared), UV (ultraviolet), temperaturessensors, magnetic field, electrical charge, electrical field,accelerometers and other forms of motion sensor, pressure sensors,acoustic, texture and other mechanical sensors. It is understood thatthese sensors could be mounted on the viewer, the display device andlocated anywhere in the environment surrounding the viewer as deemeduseful.

The data reception subsystem 130 may include but are not restricted toall forms of devices designed to receive and decode signals meant forwireless broadcast reception devices such as mobile phone, television orradio and covering a variety of wavelengths (such as radio, infrared,ultraviolet, terahertz and other frequencies), wired broadcast receptiondevices such as cable delivered content, data delivered over power linesor telephone lines. Such broadcast content may of any kind currentlybroadcast such as commercially broadcast content, content from theinternet, subscription, private transmissions as well as future forms ofbroadcast content. In addition, data reception subsystem 130 may be ofthe form to receive and decode signals from storage subsystem 150devices meant for the playback of recorded materials on physical mediasuch as DVDs, CDs, magnetic and optical tapes, solid state memory andother forms of storage, as well as signal generated by a computer on thebasis of stored instructions rather than storage of the content itself.

In addition to data reception subsystem 130 devices meant to receivedata to be displayed henceforth known as content data, are the class ofdata reception devices for other forms of data such as GlobalPositioning System (GPS) data for providing the location of the display,the Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) or similar standards (such asGreenwich Electronic Time or the Network Time Protocol) and other suchforms of data that may prove useful for the function of the system butwhich may not be displayed by the system to the viewer of the display.

The data processing subsystem 140 required may be of the form ofdevices: dedicated or purpose built for the function; of the type of a“personal” computer (typical of which are those computers sold by IBM™,DELL™, Compaq™ and Gateway™); large computing systems such as thoughcommonly associated with the single servers or server farms (such asthose provided by SUN™); distributed computing systems where thecomputation is distributed across more than one device with suchgroupings being of heterogeneous or homogenous devices in peer-to-peerto hierarchic network topologies; and embedded computing devices such asthose designed by Windriver™ for use in dedicated devices such as mobilephones, PDAs, or other devices which use microchips to control functionsand any mixture of the preceding.

Data processing subsystem 140 is going to require a storage subsystem150 to hold the data coming in from sensors part of the input subsystem120 and data reception subsystem 130. In addition, the output of dataprocessing subsystem 140 will not be simultaneously usable by thescanless retinal display system 110 and will therefore have to be heldin storage subsystem 150 until such time as the scanless retinal displaysystem 110 is prepared to apply the output from the processing subsystem140 to displays' subsystem 170 or to the data transmission subsystem160. Such a storage subsystem 150 is typically of the form of memorymicrochips but may also be located on nonremovable media such asmagnetic or optical disk or tape.

The data in storage subsystem 150 is accessed by data processingsubsystem 140 and, if the data is content for display, is output todisplays' subsystem 170 or to transmission subsystem 160 to storagesubsystem 150 elsewhere or delivery to remote displays' subsystem 170.If the data in storage subsystem 150 is not meant for displays'subsystem 170, then it is sent directly to transmission subsystem 160 tobe used by other subsystems of the system, such as subsystems containingdevices for telemetry or other functions related to the creationinteractions deemed useful by the builder of the system.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the functions the scanless retinaldisplay system 110 subsystems are designed to provide. The scanless,retinal display system 110 functions by initially receiving the displaydata input signal 210 generated by the sensors in the input subsystem120 and data reception subsystem 130.

It is determined 220 by the design of the particular embodiment of thescanless retinal display system 110 if the input signal 210 should besent directly to the displays' subsystem 170 or to processing subsystem140.

If the signal is to be sent to processing subsystem 140 and it isdetermined to not be encoded 225 then it must be encoded 230 per acoding/decoding convention (henceforth referred to as a CODEC andtypical of this class being the IEEE 1394 standard otherwise knows as“Firewire”) used by the system. If the data encoded in an incompatibleformat 235, then it must first be decoded 240 so that it may bere-encoded 230 for use by the scanless retinal display system 110. Theencoded data may be stored 250 in storage subsystem 150 where it may beprocessed 260 by processing subsystem 140 or it may sent directly todisplays' subsystem 170. Processing 260 the data may requiretransformations of the data, or it may (rather than storage) be nothingmore than the retrieval 265 of the data from storage subsystem 150 anddeciding not to process 267 or display 269 and to instead go to transmit270 the data to a different subsystem of the data processing subsystem140 for the purpose of decoding 275 and modulation 280. One example ofsuch route is when the output from processing subsystem 140 istransmitted 270 to the displays' subsystem 170 where the output isdecoded 275. Upon decoding 275 the data input signal 210, theinstructions contained in the code are applied directly to a displays'subsystem 170 subsystem capable of modulating 280 a signal to drive thedisplays' subsystem 170. The system may choose to both transmit data aswell as display 272 as in the case when multiple displays with differentprocessing requirements are being used.

By modulation is meant causing a laser to emit, to stop, changeamplitude of the emitted beam, and may include additional laser-beamcharacteristic altering commands. This figure illustrates the processfor emission and cessation of emission by the laser withoutconsideration of the mechanism employed to cause (or create thefunctional equivalent of causing) the laser to emit or cease firing.

Although the broad definition of the scanless retinal display system 110and its subsystems is familiar, the preferred embodiment of the systemis original and unique due to the manner in which the displays'subsystem 170 is driven by the data (that by addressing the imageelements of the display individually and in parallel), the manner inwhich the displays' subsystem 170 creates an image (by simultaneouslygenerating rays of light designed to converge on the retina), theproblems (such as laser display specularity) addressed by not scanningthe entire image onto the retina (but only those parts at which thefovea is pointed,) modifying the images in a manner appropriate to thespecific target onto which the display is directed (to create illusionsof focus appropriate to monitoring the focusing and vergance actions bythe eye), and the manner in which the displays' subsystem 170 isexcited.

FIG. 3 shows a preferred head mounted structure 310 of the displaysubsystem 170, where a hemisphere (or some segment of a hemisphere)shaped display 170 is held by a frame 320, strap, adhesive or othermeans (except in those cases where the design of the display is smallenough to be worn like a contact lens) close to the eye 330. Inaddition, the display 170 can be larger, planar, or be used inconjunction with reflective surfaces (such as mirrored hemispheres,cube-corner reflective material) beam-splitters and other means ofoptical redirection including all manner of conventional andunconventional lenses (converging, diverging, spherical, aspherical, andincluding lenses of all materials and configurations such as Fresnel,linear Fresnel, lenticular, prismatic, and those using negativerefraction) and apertures to redirect the output of the display 170 tothe retina.

FIG. 4 shows how the lightrays 410 projected by display 170 traverse ashort distance 420 directly onto the retina 430 of the eye 330 and howusing a display 170 with a hemispherical substrate 440 display 170 hasall image pixel generation occurring tangentially 450 to the surface ofthe eye 330 allowing creation of a display with no geometric distortionand capable of a very wide field of views “FOV” 460 (equal to or greaterthat the eye 330) and an instantaneous field of view 470 (which is animage plane contained within the eye 330) with a minimum of material,faster response, and requiring less energy than a similar display oflarger size.

FIG. 5 shows a design that allows for currently commercially availableemitters/sensors combinations 510 appropriate to imaging, eyetrackingand those sensors part of input subsystem 120 generally sensitive tochanges in the eye 330 (such as but not limited to changes of bloodpressure, eye dilation, and corneal deformation). These sensor/emittercombinations 510 are located on, in, and below the substrate 440 formingthe inward (eye 330) facing side of display 170 along with the imageemitting pixel(s) 520. Though the elements are represented as squares inthe figure, this is for graphical simplicity and is not meant to implythat the elements are in fact square.

FIG. 6 a shows a hemispherical design display 170 covering the eye 330lending itself to population by lenslets 610, photonic sources and lightemitting pixels 520 and emitter/sensor combinations 510 of the sortcurrently commercially available, said emitter/sensor combinations 510located on in and below the substrate 440 on the side of the facingoutward (away from the eye 330) and useful for image capture, motiontracking and general information capture about the environment. Thispopulation of outward facing sensor/emitter combinations 510 is usefulfor implementing a design that enables interaction with immersive whatit known in the art of computer displays as augmented reality (that isthe displayed fusion of stored or generated imagery with “real-time”imagery of the immediate surroundings).

FIG. 6 b shows an on edge view of an array of individually addressablelight pixels 520 and emitter/sensor combinations 510. The individuallyaddressable light pixels 520 may emit light of different wavelengths tocreate colored images or to provide metric, sensory or therapeuticfunctions. Though the elements are represented as round in the figure,this is for graphical simplicity and is not meant to imply that theelements are in fact round.

FIG. 7 shows a schematic of a natural light (likely in the bluewavelength since currently actinic wavelengths are optimum forexcitation) pumped organic VCSEL 710.

An individually addressable light image pixel 520 includes an organicVCSEL 710 that is optically pumped by light 720 produced by a lenslet610 assembly in a substrate 440. The lenslet 610 assembly condenses theambient light 730 and focuses the light upon the base of the organicVCSEL 710 creating a pump source. Organic VCSEL 710 in turn emits laserlight 410 perpendicular to the substrate 440, said light traveling tothe eye 330. Substrate 440 is useful for keeping all the elements inproper optical alignment amongst other things.

FIG. 8 shows an application using technologies using a stacked arraymagnifier (SAM) 810 which is a device using microlenslets 610 incombination with optoelectronics to amplify the ambient light availablein the environment to trigger a pumplight source for the organic VCSEL710.

These devices are described in a range of Eastman Kodak Company lensletarray patents by Mark Meyers (as well as others, typical of the which isthe patent by Burger WO 99/38046 on lenslet arrays and methods) startingwith U.S. Pat. No. 5,696,371A and including U.S. Pat. No. 6,141,048which describe means by which amplification of photonic input isfacilitated by the use of a lenslet array in combination withphotodetectors and current mirrors.

As shown in FIG. 9, this application being useful in low lightconditions and efficient in taking advantage of the larger surface areaavailable on the outside of the sphere compared to the inner sidecontaining the image pixels 520. FIG. 9 shows a SAM 810 emittingincoherent light 720 to optically pump the organic VCSEL 710 that emitslaser light 410 in some angle shown to be perpendicular (but which inthe real world will deviate with some characteristic divergence) to thesubstrate 440. Said laser light 410 traveling to eye 330.

FIG. 10, illustrates an individually addressable light pixel 520 thatincludes an organic VCSEL 710 that is optically pumped by (for examplebut not limited to) light from an OLED 1010 formed on a substrate 440and electronically controlled through a circuit 1020. In a passivematrix display, circuit 1020 is comprised of electrical conductors. Inan active matrix display circuit 1020, the circuit contains activeelectronic elements such as transistors, capacitors (and functionalequivalents of those and other components typical of electricalcircuits). Note that the light source may be any that meets therequirements for size, brightness and power consumption.

As in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, the incoherent light 720 is used to opticallypump the organic VCSEL 710 that, in turn emits laser light 410perpendicular to the substrate 440 and which travels to eye 330.

FIG. 11 shows optical elements such as micro beam splitters andmicromirrors 1110 may also be used to divide, redirect or combinemultiple pumplight sources such as the OLED 1010, and ambient light 730going to lenslets 610 to achieve the output 410 of the organic VCSELs710. In this manner, FIG. 11 shows how to freely combine two dissimilarbut complementary modes of operation; enhanced display of thesurroundings of the viewer and display of stored material. In thisillustration, the mirrors in the figure are positioned to direct lightfrom lenslets.

FIGS. 12 a,b,c shows a means typical of the art ofmicroelectromechanical (MEMs) devices whereby the desirable end ofmodulating the output may be achieved by positioning an optical elementsuch as a micromirror 1110 in the path of the output laser beam 410 withthe intent of providing light “valving” of the beam relative to the eye330. In this manner, deflection and alteration of the output may besufficient to make the output 410 invisible to the eye 330.

One example of the last method being patent U.S. WO 95/20811 (Robert G.Waarts) assigned to SDL Inc. where the modulation takes place subsequentto beam formation by the use of electromechanically positioned surfacesthat deflect and obscure the output laser beam.

FIG. 12 a shows the output laser beam 410 emitted towards the eye 330 inan unmodified manner. The deflecting micromirror 1110 is in a positionthat takes it out of line with the output laser beam 410.

FIG. 12 b shows the output laser beam 410 emitted and then deflected bypositioning micromirror 1110 into its path in a manner that deflects thebeam into an absorbent cavity.

FIG. 12 c shows the output beam 410 emitted and the beam path modifiedby positioning a pair of micromirrors 1110 into the beam path, modifyingthe characteristics of the waveguide and altering the wavelength of theoutput beam 410. The output beam 410 still exits the emission cavity ina manner that insures it will intersect the eye 330.

Alternatively, the output may be directed to a colored filter (such asthat described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,025 (Mears et al)) where dopedfiberoptic material is used. Use of such filters would alter the outputwavelength from a single organic VCELS 710 source and allow creation ofa combination of red, green and blue organic output laser beams 410 toachieve the capability of creating a “full color spectrum” capabledisplay. Other functionally equivalent technologies for modulationinclude: altering the organic VCSEL 710 cavity (in addition to alteringmirrors, altering the length, diameter, shape, texture or other opticalqualities or physical characteristics of the cavity) to “tune” theoutput wavelength (altering its color, polarization or other feature),or by placing a material or object (such as transmissive, liquidcrystals “LCs”) in the output 410 path. Transflective LCs, (dichroic,quantum dot, or polarizing) filters, (diffracting or holographic)gratings, additional fluorescing dyes, waveguide materials, and otherdevices (inclusive of electrical, thermal, optical, mechanical and-acoustic) in all permutations are also feasible and part of the knownart for tuning the wavelength of laser output and may be used asappropriate for the uses to which the invention will be applied.

FIG. 13 shows a schematic cross section of an OLED 1010 pumped organicVCSEL 710. The schematic cross section of an electrically pumped organicVCSEL 710 useful with the present invention includes an OLED 1010 and anorganic VCSEL 710 and an optically transparent planarization layer 1310located between the OLED 1010 and the Bragg reflector (DBR) mirror-11312 and DBR mirror-2 1316 and an active region 1314 that is formed fromorganic materials which employ a host dopant material as describedbelow. An optically transparent planarization layer 1310 is an opticallytransparent insulating planarization layer compatible with the OLED1010, for example silicon oxide; however, it can be any optically flatlayer compatible with OLED 1010 and upon which a DBR mirror can begrown. The DBR mirror-1 1312 is deposited on the optically transparentplanarization layer 1310. It is preferred that it be grown byconventional sputtering or electron beam (e-beam) deposition since it isimportant to get accurate dielectric layers of accurate thickness. Thebottom DBR mirror-1 1312 is composed of alternating high and lowrefractive index dielectric layers such that, at the wavelength for thelaser light-approximately 600 nm, its reflectivity is greater than 99.9%and it transmits greater than 90% of the OLED 1010 incoherent pumplight720. DBR mirror-1 1312 is composed of λ/4-thick alternating high and lowrefractive index dielectric layers in order to get a high-reflectance atthe lasing wavelength λ₁; additionally alternating high and lowrefractive index dielectric layers are deposited such that there resultsa broad transmission maximum for the incoherent light 720 emitted by theOLED 1010. Over DBR mirror-1 1312 is deposited the organic active region1314, which can be formed by conventional high vacuum (10⁻⁷ Torr)thermal vapor deposition or by spin casting from the solution. In orderto obtain low thresholds, it is preferred that the thickness of theactive region 1314 be integer multiples of λ/2 where λ is the lasingwavelength. The lowest thresholds are obtained for the integer multiplebeing either 1 or 2.

The preferred material for the organic active region 1314 is asmall-molecular weight organic host-dopant combination typicallydeposited by high-vacuum thermal evaporation. These host-dopantcombinations are advantageous since they result in very small-unpumpedscattering/absorption losses for the gain media. It is preferred thatthe organic molecules be of small-molecular weight sincevacuum-deposited materials can be deposited more uniformly thanspin-coated polymeric materials. It is also preferred that the hostmaterials used in the present invention are selected such that they havesufficient absorption of the pump beam 720 and are able to transfer alarge percentage of their excitation energy to a dopant material viaFörster energy transfer. Those skilled in the art are familiar with theconcept of Forster energy transfer, which involves a radiationlesstransfer of energy between the host and dopant molecules.

An example of a useful host-dopant combination for red-lasers isaluminum tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) (Alq) as the host and[4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-t-butyl-6-(1,1,7,7-tetramethyljulolidyl-9-enyl)-4H-pyran](DCJTB) as the dopant (at a volume fraction of 1%). Other host-dopantcombinations can be used for other wavelength emissions. For example, inthe green a useful combination is Alq as the host and[10-(2-benzothiazolyl)-2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-1,1,7,7-tetramethyl-1H,5H,11H-[1]Benzopyrano[6,7,8-ij]quinolizin-11-one](C545T) as the dopant (at a volume fraction of 0.5%). Other organic gainregion materials can be polymeric substances, e.g.,polyphenylenevinylene derivatives, dialkoxy-polyphenylenevinylenes,poly-para-phenylene derivatives, and polyfluorene derivatives, as taughtby Wolk et al. in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,194,119 B1 andreferences therein. It is the purpose of the organic active region 1314to receive transmitted pump beam light 720 and emit laser light 410. ADBR mirror-2 1316 is deposited over the active region 1314. It is alsodeposited by conventional e-beam deposition, however it is preferredthat during the deposition process the temperature of the organic staybelow 75C. The top DBR mirror-2 1316 is composed of alternation high andlow refractive index dielectric layers, such that at the wavelengths forthe laser light 420 its reflectivity is greater than 98% and it reflectsgreater that 90% of the incoherent light 720. Consequently, besidesdepositing the λ/4-thick alternating high and low refractive indexdielectectric layers (where λ is chosen near the desired lasingwavelength), additional alternating high and low refractive indexdielectric layers are deposited such that there results a broadreflection maximum for the incoherent light 720. In particular, it isonly necessary to reflect that portion of the incoherent light 720 whichis absorbed by the active region 1314 host material.

The OLEDs 1010 of the organic VCSELs 710 are one or more electricallydriven organic organic light diode devices which produce incoherentlight within a predetermined portion of the spectrum. For an example ofan OLED device, see commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,172,459 issuedJan. 9, 2001 to Hung et al, and the references cited therein, thedisclosures of which are incorporated by reference.

The OLED 1010 is formed adjacent to, and possibly on or in, a substrate440 on which is formed an electrode layer-1 1320, for example ahole-injecting anode as shown in FIG. 13. The substrate 440 can be anymaterial suitable for construction of OLED devices as are described inthe art, for example glass or quartz, and the electrode layer-1 1320 canbe a thin layer of indium oxide (ITO) or think layers of conductivemetals formed over the substrate 440. The electrode can be deposited byevaporation, sputtering, and chemical vapor deposition.

Alternatively, an electrode can be formed on the optically transparentplanarization layer 1310 as shown in FIG. 14. An organic hole transportlayer-1 1322 is formed over the electrode layer-1 1320, an organic lightemissive layer 1324 is formed over the hole transport layer-1 1322, andan organic electron transport layer-2 1326 is formed over the emissivelayer 1324. As an example of these three layers, a useful structureincludes a diamine layer such as4,4′-bis[N-(1-naphthyl)-N-phenylamino]biphenyl (NPB) for the holetransport layer-1 1322, undoped 9,10-Bis(2-naphthalenyl)anthracene (AND)for the emissive layer 1324, and aluminum tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) Alqas the electron transport layer-2 1326. These organic layers aretypically prepared by high-vacuum thermal evaporation. Their preferredthickness is 40-250 nm for the NPB, 10-50 nm for the AND, and 10-200 nmfor the Alq.

A second electrode layer (electrode layer-2) 1328 (for example acathode) is formed over the electron transport layer-2 1326 and of amaterial selected to have a work function less thn 4.0 eV. A suitableelectrode layer-2 1328 is indium tin oxide or MgAg, where the MgAgvolume ratio is 10:1. It can be formed by conventional thermal vapordeposition. An insulating, optically transparent planarization layer1310 is formed over the cathode and the organic VCSEL 710 formed uponthe optically transparent planarization layer 1310.

Additional layers as are known in the art can be included in the OLED1010 structure. For example hole injection and electron injectionlayers. As is well understood in the art, a voltage V can be appliedacross the electrodes to provide the necessary electric field forcausing the light layer to produce the pump beam light 720 which istransmitted out of the organic VCSEL 710. The voltage V can becontinuous or in the form of pulses.

Under typical bias conditions, negative charge carriers (electrons) willbe injected from the electrode layer-2 1328 into the organic electrontransport layer-2 1326 and positive charge carriers (holes) will beinjected from the electrode layer-1 1320 into the organic hole transportlayer-1 1322. Electrons and holes are transported through bothcorresponding organic transport layers 1326 and 1322 and into theorganic light emissive layer 1324. In the organic light emissive layer1324 the electrons and the holes recombine near the junction between thehole transport layer-1 1322 and the light emissive layer 1324. Theresulting recombination results in light emission from the organic lightemissive layer 1324. Of the light generated in the layer, approximately50% is directly emitted in the direction of the substrate 440 while theother 50% is emitted directly toward the electrode layer-2 1328. Theelectrode layer-2 1328 is transparent and allows the light to passthrough the optically transparent planarization layer 1310 to opticallypump the vertical cavity laser.

The electrode layer-1 1320 and the underlying substrate can be madereflective so that the portion of the light emitted toward the electrodelayer-1 1320 can be reflected out of the device to pass through thetransparent insulating planarization layer as well. It is well known inthe art that the positions of the anode and cathode and the hole andelectron injecting and transport layers can be reversed so thatelectrode layer-1 1320 is a cathode and electrode layer-2 1328 is ananode. In this case, a reflective cathode can be deposited upon thesubstrate while the anode is transparent.

After existing the OLED 1010, the incoherent light 720 enters theorganic VCSEL 710 through DBR mirror-1 1312. As a result of the bottomDBR mirror-1 1312 design, the majority of that light passes into theactive region 1314. By construction, the active layer host absorbs somefraction of the incoherent light 720. Of the fraction of the light,which did not get absorbed, the remaining fraction for incoherent light720 enters the top DBR mirror-2 1316, where a large fraction of thelight is back reflected into the active layer for a second pass. Duringthe second pass, the active layer host absorbs an additional fraction ofthe incoherent light 720.

Via the Forster energy transfer mechanism, the light energy absorbed bythe host is non-radiatively transferred to the dopant molecules. It ispreferred that the dopant molecule has a quantum efficiency for emissionsince that results in the majority of the non-radioactively transferredenergy being re-emitted as longer wavelength light. For example, withAND ad the OLDE light emitter material, Alq as the active layer host and4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-t-butyl-6-(1,1,7,7-tetramethyljulolidyl-9-enyl)-4H-pyranDCJTB as the active layer dopant, the emitted OLED light is blue: Alqmainly absorbing in the blue while DCJTB emits in the red.

The organic VCSEL 710 is designed to have a high-Q cavity for red light,especially for wavelengths where the top and bottom DBR mirrors havetheir highest reflectivities. Those skilled in the art are familiar withthe concept that lasing occurs at a particular wavelength, which has thehighest net gain. At that wavelength, the laser light 410 reflects manytimes between the top and bottom DBR mirrors prior to being emittedmainly through the top DBR mirror-2 1316 (since the mirror loss of thebottom DBR mirror is much lower by design than of the top DBR mirror).

In this embodiment, the organic VCSEL 710 and the electrically drivenOLED 1010 are combined in an integrated device formed on the substrate440 with the electrically driven OLED 1010 located on the substrate 440and the organic VCSEL 710 above the OLED 1010 and separated from it bythe optically transparent planarization layer 1310. Consequently, thebottom DBR mirror-1 1312 is composed of alternating high and lowrefractive index dielectric layers such that at wavelengths for thelaser light 410, its reflectivity is greater than 99.9% and it transmitsgreater than 90% of the incoherent light 720. Correspondingly, the topDBR mirror-2 1316 is composed of alternating high and low refractiveindex dielectric layers such that at the wavelength for the laser light410, its reflectivity is greater than 98% and it reflects greater than90% of the incoherent light 720.

The efficiency of the laser is improved further using an active regiondesign as depicted in FIG. 15 for the vertical cavity organic VCSEL 710.The organic active region 1314 includes one or more periodic gain layers1505 and organic spacer layers 1510 disposed on either side of theperiodic gain layers 1505 and arranged so that the periodic gain layers1505 are aligned with antinodes of the device's standing waveelectromagnetic field. This is illustrated in FIG. 15 where the organicVCSEL's 710 standing electromagnetic field pattern 1520 in the organicactive region 1314 is schematically drawn. Since stimulated emission ishighest at the antinodes and negligible at nodes of the electromagneticfield, it is inherently advantageous to form the active region 1314 asshown in FIG. 15. The organic spacer layers 1510 do not undergostimulated or spontaneous emission and largely do not absorb either thelaser emission 410 or the pump-beam 720 wavelengths. An example of anorganic spacer layer 1510 is the organic material1,1-Bis-(4-bis(4-methyl-phenyl)-amino-phenyl)-cyclohexane (TAPC).

TAPC works well as the spacer material since it largely does not absorbeither the laser emission 410 or the pump-beam 720 energy and, inaddition, its refractive index is slightly lower than that of mostorganic host materials. This refractive index difference is useful sinceit helps in maximizing the overlap between the electromagnetic fieldantinodes and the periodic gain layers 1505. As will be discussed belowwith reference to the present invention, employing periodic gain layers1505 instead of a bulk gain region results in higher power conversionefficiencies and a significant reduction of the unwanted spontaneousemission. The placement of the periodic gain layers 1505 is determinedby using the standard matrix method of optics (Corzine et al. IEEE J.Quant. Electr. 25, 1513 [1989]). To get good results, the thicknesses ofthe periodic gain layers 1505 need to be at or below 50 nm in order toavoid unwanted spontaneous emission.

A laser light pixel 520 can be increased in area while maintaining adegree of spatial coherence by utilizing a phase locked organic layerarray 1610 as depicted in FIG. 16. To form a two dimensional phaselocked organic laser array 1610, laser elements 1620 separated byinter-element spacing 1630 need to be defined on the surface of theorganic VCSEL 710. To obtain phase locking, intensity and phaseinformation must be exchanged amongst the laser elements 1620. This isbest obtained by weakly confining the laser emissions to the lasingregions by either small amounts of built-in index or gain guiding, e.g.by modulating the reflectance of one of the mirrors.

FIG. 16 shows the reflectance modulation is affected by patterning andforming an etched region in the bottom of the dielectric stack usingstandard photolithographic and etching techniques, thus forming a twodimensional array of laser elements 1620 in the form of cylindricalpillars on the surface of the bottom dielectric stack. The remainder ofthe organic VCSEL 710 structure is deposited upon the patterned bottomdielectric stack as described above. In this embodiment the shape of thelaser elements 1620 is circular, however other shapes (such asrectangular) are possible. The inter-element spacing 1630 is in therange of 0.25 to 5 micrometers.

Phase locked array operations will also occur for larger inner-regionspacings, however larger spacings lead to inefficient usage of theoptical pumping energy. The etch depth is preferred to be from 200 to1000 nm deep. By etching just beyond an odd number of layers into thebottom dielectric stack, it is possible to affect a significant shift inthe longitudinal mode wavelength in the etched region away from the peakof the gain media, thus preventing lasting action and significantlyreducing spontaneous emission in the inter-element spacing 1630 areabetween laser elements 1620. The end result is the formation of theetched region is that the laser emission is weakly confined to the laserelements 1620 so no lasing originates for the area between the regionsand coherent phase locked laser light is emitted by the locked organiclaser array 1610.

By using a plurality of coherent phase locked laser emitters, a largeraddressable area can be formed that emits light of a single wavelength.Different addressable areas can be formed to emit light of differentcolors to provide a full color image display. It is also possible toconstruct a single, individually addressable area that emits light ofmultiple colors, for example—white. By modifying the inter-elementspacing 1630 so the elements are arranged in groups to make lockedorganic laser arrays 1610 wherein the inter-element spacing 1630 betweenthe elements within a group are the same, and the spacing between thegroups is sufficiently large as to prevent lasing action the groups, theresulting groups emit light of different colors.

Different OLED 1010 materials can be used in association with each groupas desired to assist the emission of differently colored light from eachgroup within a single, individually addressed light laser pixel. Theindividually addressed light laser pixel can thus emit light that is acombination of the frequencies. For example, an individually addressedlight laser pixel can be made to emit a white light. The white point ofthe addressable laser light pixel 520 can be controlled by adjusting theratio of the number of groups differently colored light within theelement, for example having one laser array within an addressable lightlaser pixel larger than another laser array.

FIG. 17 shows an individually addressable laser light pixel 520 includesthree groups of color capable arrays 1700 of light elements 1710 forlight of different colors. Each group of color capable arrays 1700includes one or more lasing elements 1710 wherein all of the lasingelements 1710 within a group of color capable arrays 1700 emit light ofthe same color. As noted above, the groups of color capable arrays 1700may have different numbers of elements to provide a specific intensityof light emission from each group. The overall wavelength emitted fromthe laser light pixel 520 can be adjusted by adjusting the intensity oflight emission from each group as in the case where adjusting the whitepoint of a white laser light pixel 520. Alternatively, a white lightpixel 520 may include a mixed group of differently colored laserelements 1710 that are not mode locked, but that are arranged in amanner that promotes the mixing of the colors from the laser elements1710. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 12, it may be preferable to changethe color of the output of a single VCSEL 710.

The essence of the scanless display is the fact that an array of lasers(or other suitable photonic emitters) can be simultaneously (for thepurposes of this invention) caused to emit light. By associating memorylocations with each laser and a time with each memory location, acommand to withhold firing can be placed in memory such that when themass firing command is executed, selected lasers will not emit. Theseelements meet the requirements for a scanless display, namely that alllasers are simultaneously addressed yet each laser's state isindividually determined, not in a sequential (scanning) manner but inwhatever manner is most efficient where efficiency is determined by thedesigner in light of the use of the display.

Standard capture and display systems utilize scanning, a means familiarto those versed in the design of such systems. Scanning uses one or moreinterrogating beams that have their reflection(s) modulated byinteraction with a target (such as an image expressed as electricalcharges), that interaction sensed, encoded, stored or transmitted andthen decoded to modulate an exciting beam to activate image pixels in asimilar spatial-temporal sequence and pattern as was used duringcapture.

In this example, the ability to create an array of image light pixel 520generating organic VCSELs 710 to illustrate an alternative method ofgenerating an image will be used.

Examples of scanless methods of driving the displays were givenpreviously. In one example, it was outlined how organic VCSELs 710 canin some cases use ambient light to pump the organic VCSEL 710 to emit.Given ambient light stimulation, a scanless system is readily created byattaching a fiberoptic bundle (or functionally equivalent means ofguiding light rays) to the electrode layer of the organic VCSEL 710,allowing the ambient light transmitted from one location to stimulatelasers to emit at the opposite end.

By having a light pump associated with a laser and a uniquereceiver/transmitter pair, another version of a scanless display iscreated. In this case the light would be transmitted via wired orwireless transmission as data that would trigger a response of a lightpump at the receiver end, in turn causing the light source associatedwith the organic VCSEL 710 to pump and produce output.

The preceding examples benefit from the simplicity of beinginstantaneous and therefore not requiring synchronization. Next it willbe discussed how the system can be used to create a scanless displaywhere the image content is not provided instantaneously but comes fromsome form of storage or from a capture system that is not scanless; thusrequiring some form of storage, timing and synchronization.

In the case of a scanless system, the state (excited or not excited) ofall the image pixels of the display for a time, Tn needs to be captured)because all image pixels elements may be simultaneously activated(although less than all image pixels may actually be selected foractivation). This sounds daunting until it is considered thatbroadcasting typically simultaneously updates many devices. Anymechanism (such as an electromagnetic field) that can carry a signal(that is, can be varied or modulated in an intentional way) can be usedto cause a synchronized change of state to emitters tuned to respond tothe signal. In this case, rather than thinking of many differentbroadcast channels carrying many different programs as the illustrationused for a real-time embodiment, the system can be thought of as abroadcast that goes out and instructs many video players attached tomany televisions to simultaneously start or stop playing the manydifferent programs that had been previously loaded on each video player.The effect is the same as that produced by the real-time broadcast, butthe content is not real-time.

In the case of this invention, the “video players” are memory locationsassociated with photonic emitters (the organic VCSELs 710) rather thanthe televisions of the simile. An electrical field will be used tonear-simultaneously address all the emitter/memory locations in concert(rather than the “broadcast” of the example). For this embodiment anelectrical field is used but that does not exclude other field effects(such as a magnetic fields) from potentially being used. In thisembodiment, timing and synchronization will be addressed by circuitrycycling through an emitter's associated memory locations (“the tape”) inresponse to the timing pulse in the repeated and identical modulationsof the electrical field. This does not exclude the use of other timingand synchronization systems as described elsewhere in the patent.

Three methods of modulation in keeping with the system's goal of beingable to individually address each laser in an array and to do so in amassively parallel manner to create a scanless display are: modulatingthe beam prior to beam creation by modulating or interfering with thepump light source, modulating the beam as it is being created where thelaser cavity is altered to inhibit lasing, and modulating the beam afterit has been created.

The mechanism subsequently outlined may be adapted for any of the threegeneral means of modulation, this example will for the sake ofsimplicity use the case where the device takes advantage of the lowlevel of incoherent pump light characteristics of organic lasers and the“individually addressable” array design to modulate the display laser bycontrolling the pump source, thus also allowing the organic lasers to bepumped from multiple sources. This provides the advantage that the imagesources (from storage or from the surrounding environment) canalternate, or be combined in continuous range of combinations.

We further define this embodiment as one that takes thetransmitter/receiver/exciter and associates storage with the transmitterand receiver. The storage is composed of memory locations capable ofstoring at least one data bit rendering it capable of storing the changeof state information that will be used to determine whether the exciterwill go off or on during the broadcast to emit.

Next, a broadcast timing circuit (or means of leveraging existing timingbroadcasts such as those based on the atomic clock) is added toconstantly cause all the organic VCSELs 710 to simultaneously querytheir dedicated memory locations. At this juncture, a rudimentary butfunctionally complete near instantaneous, scanless display system hasbeen described.

As described, all exciters for all organic VCSELs 710 need to beaddressed with their change of state information simultaneously, whichrequires a means of making sure that for a given moment in time T, alldata is loaded into all the storage locations (that data being thechange of state for a particular organic VCSEL 710 for a particular timeT) and that such data will be applied to the exciters of all the organicVCSELs 710 when the proper time is identified.

FIG. 18 shows a functional block diagram of the process 1810 used tomodulate the image pixels to create a scanless display that isdisplaying stored or generated data (rather than in response to changesin the lighting environment of the display device.)

The process 1810 uses at least one buffer holding the firing state ofthe laser (off or on) and at least 3 memory locations (for simplicity ofexplanation) labeled (x), (x+1) and (x+2) associated with each laserwhere x is a spatial coordinate of an organic VCSEL 710.

The process 1810 defines each memory location as being in one of threestates; Tn−1 1820 (the moment before Tn) where the memory is availableto be loaded with a value that will then be queried at time Tn, Tn 1830where memory is being read to determine the firing state of the organicVCSEL 710, and Tn+1 1840 (the moment after Tn) where the memory locationis set to 0. The process then repeats itself as often as necessary.

FIG. 18 a shows the process 1810 beginning at the time Tn−1 1820 whenthe system is turned on and change of state information for all lasersarrives is loaded into each lasers memory (x).

This patent's model uses a simple scheme, well known to those versed inthe art of compression encoding, of only sending data when an imagepixel needs to change state. The reception of a data packet of a validlaser location and a time are sufficient to indicate that the state ofthe laser at that time (either on or off) must change as per a Booleanlogical exclusive “OR” (XOR) operation. That is, if the laser is on, itgoes off. If it is off, it goes on. If nothing is received, the statedoesn't change.

To maintain the simplicity of the explanation, an example where allmemory locations are enabled simultaneously will be used. In actuality,benefits are likely to result from treating the display as an aggregateof image light pixel 520/organic VCSELs 710 arrays that are treated asseparate scanless displays in the manner typical of compression encodingtechnology. Further benefits are likely to accrue to from dynamicallydefining the extent of these arrays in response to viewer interest andcontent. For example, knowledge of where viewer attention is focusedwould permit defining a subarray of the display as not requiring anyupdate. Within the area of viewer attention, parts of the image mayrequire frequent update while other parts may require so little thatthat updates are ignored.

In FIG. 18 b, at time Tn 1830 the memory location (x) is selected andread which causes the organic VCSEL 710 to emit or cease firing basedupon its state and the state of the firing buffer for the laser. At thesame time, memory location (x+1) is emptied in preparation for possiblearrival of change of state information. Also at the same time, memorylocation (x+2) is available to be loaded with a change of state for theorganic VCSEL 710.

An alternative scheme has all state information sent (both start andstop firing), leading to greater communication traffic, but reducing thenumber of buffered states and memory locations.

In FIG. 18 c for time Tn+1 1840, the memory location (x) is emptied inpreparation for the possible arrival of change of state informationwhile (x+1) is available for loading with change of state data and (x+2)is being accessed to determine if the laser should emit or cease firing.Such a scheme means that the greater the number of memory locations, theshorter the possible firing duration up to the physical limits of thedevice to change state.

The invention perpetually cycles through the memory locations 1850 asshown in FIGS. 18 a, 18 b and 18 c until the unit is turned off. Therate at which the unit cycles through the memory locations 1850 can bevariable (as opposed to a scanning system) such that small changes allowhigher refresh rates while many changes to image pixels could becompensated for by slower rates of change. In addition, the viewer maychoose to manually increase or decrease the refresh rate. In addition,as stated earlier, different regions of the displays may be treated asseparate displays with differing refresh rates.

FIG. 19 a shows a possible mechanism for implementing the modulationscheme diagrammed in FIGS. 18 a, 18 b, 18 c.

By individually enabling all of the organic VCSELs 710 in parallelrather than sequentially, not only is the goal of creating a scanlesssystem achieved, but an additional goal of having all image pixelsrefreshed simultaneously thus each image displayed is self consistent(rather than a hybrid of the previous image and the current image.) Asimpler embodiment where the image pixels are updated purely as neededwithout regard for simultaneity may be preferable in some circumstances.

Several means of enabling all the organic VCSELs 710 in parallel areavailable. A magnetic field can be created and collapsed to create acurrent. likewise other fields (such as electrostatic fields) may beused.

In FIG. 19 a is shown the substrate 440 made up of insulating layers1910 separating power conductive layers 1920 and information conductivelayers 1930 useful for supplying a bias. The term “layer” is meant toconvey in a simple way the functional organization of the device and isnot meant to be taken literally since the power is likely to be suppliedby traces or wires and the insulations is likely to be a coating aboutsaid tracings or wires.

It should be noted that the organic VCSEL 710 (that has its pump lightsource connected to the conductive layers) gets power from a powersource through a switch, allowing all the lasers to be supplied withpower simultaneously and in parallel by one of the power conductivelayers 1920. Such a circuit may be implemented in a variety of ways(using power transistors and their functional equivalent and a source ofbias coming from any combination of timing and event driven sources)familiar to those versed in the art of electrical circuit design. Such acircuit and power could be use convention in sources of power (usingbattery or grid as a power source) but may also include wireless meansof connection and sources of renewable and constantly available energysuch as harnessing muscular movement (eye blinking,) motion/impact viapiezoelectric, motion via polymers that create a current when flexed,and photons in the environment (for example solar power). Not excludedare power sources such as thermodynamic, chemoluminescent, chemical,nuclear and quantum.

The biasing information conductive layers 1930, may be thought of as aconductive grid designed to access the memory location 1850 collocatedwith an organic VCSEL 710, such a memory buffer connected in a mannerwhere the memory is insulated from the power conductive layers 1920 byadditional insulating layers 1910 but connected to the power conductivelayers 1920 using device controller circuitry 1020 that allows thememory set by the charge through the data conductive layer 1930 to beused to bias the equivalent of a power transistor switch supplyingvoltage to a pumplight source such as an OLED 1010 for the organic VCSEL710.

FIG. 19 b shows that in between the power conductive layers 1920 and thebase of the organic VCSEL 710 is the controller circuit 1020 acting as afunctional equivalent of a power transistor switch. A bias voltageavailable through the data conductive layers 1930 applied to the circuit1020 and enables it to pass the current to the organic VCSEL 710. Thisbias voltage is supplied by the memory locations 1850 which arecollocated with each organic VCSEL 710. Which memory location 1850 isused to provide the bias is dependent upon which conductive layer iscurrently charged, each memory array is selected by choice of a powerlayer. Each memory location is accessible in the manner familiar tothose versed in the art of memory chip design, of having an array whereunique intersection coordinate provide an address that is assigned toeach memory location.

In light of what is occurring to a memory grid (the one that isassociated with one power layer,) during the current cycle, it is seento be beneficial that during the next cycle (when power is applied tothe organic VCSEL 710 by the layer associated with the memory grid thathas now been loaded with the next set of change values) that the bufferstate be XORd with the current bias on the organic VCSEL 710 to causethe organic VCSEL 710 to emit or cease firing. To keep old changeinformation from affecting current states, a cycle should then be takento clear the buffer memory grids associated with a given power layeronce it has been used to define the bias that defines the organicsVCSEL's 710 new state. The “new” state, therefore, continues untilanother change state binary flag is delivered. If no voltage isdelivered, no change is initiated. Consequently, during powerapplication by at least one layer, all of the memory locations accessedby the grid associated with the other power layer is wiped clean. Duringthe next cycle, change state voltages are loaded into the wiped memoryof that grid. The cycle after, those change state voltages are XOR'dwith the actual value of the organic VCSEL's 710 state and emits orkills the associated organic VCSEL 710. The same process is occurring acycle out of phase with the memory locations of the other memory grid.

Note that since there are three steps (clean, write, read/XOR) in thisembodiment, so the embodiment prefers a minimum of three organic VCSEL710 bias memory grids. It should be noted that these are functionaldescriptions and that actual product could reduce the time taken toclean and write till the combined time of those functions is equal to orless than the read/XOR time.

Three methods of modulation in keeping with the system's goal of beingable to individually address each laser in an array and to do so in amassively parallel manner to create a scanless display are: modulatingthe beam prior to being created by controlling or interfering with thepump light source, modulating the beam as it is being created where thelaser cavity is altered to inhibit lasing, and modulating the beam afterit has been created, these means being capable of at least making thebeam visible or invisible to the eye 330 but including the possibilityof altering some aspect of the beam such as its polarization, wavelengthor amplitude.

Although the example discussed focuses on modulation the pumplightsource, the system is easily extend to include modulation (alone or inconcert) of other organic VCSEL 710 components or devices such as thoselisted in the detailed description for FIGS. 7,9,10, 11 and 12.

An alternate system can be created, and may be preferred in certainapplications for its simplicity or manufacturing advantages, where thesystem converts change state data into a direct on/off bias in memory.Such an alternate system takes a cycle to copy (using a circuit) allmemory locations forward. During the next clock cycle, all memorylocations that have changed are updated thus latching the unchangedmemory locations (the previous state of the image pixels) andmaintaining those states till an intervention occurs. In this manner, aconstant wave of data moves forward, the system only having to alterthose image pixels whose state has changed. The memory content for timeTn can then be used to directly bias the power available to the organicVCSEL 710. Instead of the circuitry in the display handling the changelogic, it is assumed a processor associated with the display comparesincoming change of state data for each image pixel and then outputs theappropriate on or off biasing information to the correct memory/timelocation for those image pixels that have changed.

Controlling the provision of current to the strata is a timing signal,that signal being either a relative timing signal as is typically foundin such devices as personal computers in the form of output from a clockchip, or an absolute timing signal as is found in television broadcastsand the previously mentioned UTC standard atomic clock broadcastprovided the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Once a timing framework is established, the display can respond in avariable manner to conditions of the eye 330 (such as the biologicalblanking interval that occurs during a saccade as the eye 330 movesbetween fixation points) allowing the refresh of the display to occur ina manner more harmonious with the refresh rate of the viewer's vision.Other conditions that may prompt a variable rate of refresh are contentrequirements (faster rates of refresh during high motion segments ofcontent and lower rates during periods of low activity), or otherexternal conditions (such as content delivered over wire or wirelessmeans that suffers from transmission problems).

An alternate approach to choosing which grouping of organic VCSELs 710associated with a particular time are to have current applied to themsimultaneously is to have switches made selectively (by location andtime) immune to a change in a field surrounding the device such thatthere would be a change of selection of all memory/bias locations for agiven time along the time axis. This is best imagined as each switch foreach image pixel responding to a specific broadcast wavelength but allwavelengths broadcast data in a synchronized manner. This has theadvantage of requiring the display be composed of only one strata forpower delivery with that strata having a constant flow of current to theorganic VCSEL 710 embedded in the display device. Such an embodimentwould especially appealing in cases where the organic VCSELs 710 arebeing simultaneously pumped by an external source of light and where theswitches are controlling some of shutter or mirror (like those mentionedin conjunction with FIG. 11 MEMs devices) to modulate the input ofambient light to the pump region.

In the preceding examples, a number of ways are suggested in whichorganic VCSELs 710 may be continuously and independently modulated on anas-needed basis, rather than in a spatially or temporally sequentialbasis—the limiting factor being the time to alternate between two ormore circuits rather than the time it takes to go through a linearsequence state information addresses.

As stated earlier, there is an advantage to refreshing the image as awhole since this allows the population of the memory buffers for eachorganic VCSEL 710 to take place in the manner most efficient for eachimage (as opposed to choosing a system of decompression for the entireimage stream as is currently done when decoding an image stream encodedfor compression.) For example, image (In) may have the organic VCSEL 710attendant buffers populated on the basis of physical proximity to oneanother in the display, while image In+1 might have pixels populated onthe basis of providing detail to the most important content area in theimage and image In+2 might have buffers populated on the of basis themost rapid update at the expense of resolution.

The invention has been described with reference to a preferredembodiment; however, it will be appreciated that a person of ordinaryskill in the art can effect variations and modifications withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention.

Parts List

-   110 a scanless retinal display system-   120 input subsystem-   130 reception subsystem-   140 processing subsystem-   150 storage subsystem-   160 transmission subsystem-   170 display subsystem-   310 a head mounting structure-   320 frame holding the displays on the head-   330 the eye(s)-   440 the substrate-   510 sensor/emitter combinations-   520 light pixel-   610 lenslet-   710 organic VCSEL-   730 ambient light-   810 stacked array magnifier (SAM)-   1010 organic light diode (OLED)-   1020 controller circuitry-   1110 switchable micromirror-   1110 optically transparent planarization layer-   1310 DBR mirror-1-   1312 Active region-   1316 DBR mirror-2-   1320 Electrode layer-1-   1322 Transport layer-1-   1324 Emissive layer-   1326 Transport layer-2-   1328 Electrode layer-2-   1505 periodic gain layer-   1510 organic spacer layer-   1610 locked organic VCSEL array-   1620 laser elements-   1630 inter-element spacing-   1700 groups of color capable arrays-   1710 light elements-   1850 memory location-   1910 insulating layers-   1920 power conductive layers-   1930 information conductive layers

1. A scanless display system (system to be used throughout) thatprojects an image directly onto a retina, comprising: a) a plurality oforganic laser cavity devices, placed in close proximity to a user's eye,for variably changing individual image pixels; wherein projecting theimage directly onto the retina occurs by variably addressing individualimage pixel locations and variably changing duration of illumination onindividual image pixels upon the retina; b) a receiver for receivingtransmitted electrical signals that include content information; c) adecoder for decoding received electrical signals; and d) a modulator fordriving the scanless display under predetermined parameters.
 2. Thescanless display system claimed in claim 1, further comprising: e) aplurality of optical sensors, facing the user's eye, for capturing eyedata, wherein the plurality of optical sensors are excited by theillumination of individual image pixels reflected by the user's eye; f)an encoder for encoding the captured eye data as encoded information;and g) a transmitter for transmitting the encoded information.
 3. Thescanless display system claimed in claim 2, wherein the captured eyedata is data selected from the group consisting of retinal movement andposition data, pupil dilation, and blood flow within the user's eye. 4.The scanless display system claimed in claim 1, further comprising: e) aplurality of lenslets facing away from the user's eye for capturinglight data in an environment; f) an encoder for encoding the capturedlight data as encoded information; and g) a transmitter for transmittingthe encoded information.
 5. The scanless display system claimed in claim4, wherein the captured light data is data selected from the groupconsisting of visual data about the environment, distance data about theenvironment, and position data relative to the environment.
 6. Thescanless display system claimed in claim 1, further comprising: e) aprocessor for manipulating the content information and encodedinformation according to the scanless display parameters.
 7. Thescanless display system claimed in claim 6, wherein the processorcompares buffer values such that novelty filtering of an external sceneis enabled.
 8. The scanless display system claimed in claim 6, whereinthe processor compares buffer values such that position of the retina iscalculated.
 9. The scanless display system claimed in claim 1, furthercomprising: e) a storage device for storing the content information andencoded information according to the scanless display parameters. 10.The scanless display system claimed in claim 9, wherein the storagedevice includes a plurality of buffers for storing the encodedinformation.
 11. The scanless display system claimed in claim 10,wherein the plurality of buffers comprise: a) a buffer that stores datarepresenting reflected light from the retina as the retina isilluminated; b) a buffer that stores data representing an array of theindividual image pixels at a given moment in time; c) a buffer thatstores a panoramic version of the image; and d) a buffer that storesenvironmental data sent to the scanless display.
 12. The scanlessdisplay system claimed in claim 11, wherein the environmental data isdata selected from the group consisting of GPS data, IR data, RF data,and other position tracking data.
 13. A scanless display that projectsan image directly onto a retina, comprising: a) a plurality of organiclaser cavity devices for variably changing individual image pixels;wherein projecting the image directly onto the retina occurs by variablyaddressing individual image pixel locations and variably changingduration of illumination on individual image pixels upon the retina; b)means for tracking position of the retina relative to the scanlessdisplay; c) means for directing the plurality of organic laser cavitydevices at the retina; d) a receiver for receiving transmittedelectrical signals that include content information; e) a decoder fordecoding received electrical signals; and f) a modulator for driving thescanless display under predetermined parameters. g) a means forswitching between modulating sources
 14. The scanless display claimed inclaim 13, wherein the means for tracking position of the retina furtherincludes: e) a plurality of optical sensors, facing the user, forcapturing head positioning and eye data of the user; f) an encoder forencoding the captured eye data as encoded information; and g) atransmitter for transmitting the encoded information.
 15. The scanlessdisplay claimed in claim 10, wherein the plurality of buffers forstoring the encoded information includes time dependent information forchanging pixel values of the scanless display.
 16. A method for directlyprojecting a scanless image onto a viewer's eye, comprising the stepsof: a) variably addressing individual image pixel locations; and b)variably changing duration of illumination on the individual imagepixels upon the viewer's eye for projecting the scanless image.
 17. Themethod claimed in claim 16, wherein the step of variably addressingindividual image pixel locations further comprises the steps of: a1)identifying a change of state of the individual image pixel locationsfor a predetermined absolute unit of time;
 18. The method claimed inclaim 17, wherein the step of (a1) includes: simultaneously addressingthe individual image pixel locations for the predetermined absolute unitof time as determined by a clock.
 19. The method claimed in claim 17,wherein the step of (a1) includes: simultaneously addressing theindividual image pixel locations for the predetermined absolute unit oftime as determined by a processor.
 20. The method claimed in claim 16,wherein the step of changing the duration of illumination of individualimage pixel locations includes modulating a pumped light source.
 21. Themethod claimed in claim 16, wherein the step of changing the duration ofillumination of individual image pixel locations includes shuttering ordeflecting a light output of a pumped light source.
 22. The methodclaimed in claim 16, wherein the step of changing the duration ofillumination of individual image pixel locations includes modulating anoutput of an organic laser cavity device.
 23. The method claimed inclaim 16, further comprising the steps of: identifying an eye positionof a viewer and altering content of an image output to the viewer's eyebased upon the viewer's eye position.
 24. The method claimed in claim16, further comprising the steps of: identifying a viewer's biologicalstate and altering content of an image output to the viewer's eye basedupon the viewer's biological state.
 25. The method claimed in claim 24,further includes the steps of: tracking retinal movement and position;tracking pupil dilation; and tracking blood flow.
 26. The method claimedin claim 16, wherein the scanless image includes content information.27. The method claimed in claim 16, wherein the scanless image includesviewer environment information.
 28. The method claimed in claim 16,wherein the scanless image includes a combination of content informationand viewer environment information.
 29. The scanless display systemclaimed in claim 1, wherein the scanless display is monochromatic. 30.The scanless display system claimed in claim 1, wherein the scanlessdisplay is color.